Elowen's POV
The fog.
It was back—thicker, colder, more alive than I had ever felt before. It wasn't just a veil of mist that danced through the trees; it crept and slithered like a hungry beast, trying to devour everything. Including me.
I ran. My knees nearly scraped the earth. My breath was ragged. My chest ached like a blade twisting inside. But I didn't stop. I couldn't. I had to get away from Kael—from his piercing gaze, from his burning words that scorched and confused me.
I wanted to return to something familiar. My little cave. A place where I could still pretend that the world hadn't changed, that my body was still entirely mine, that fate hadn't written me into some bloodstained prophecy of alphas.
But this forest… was not the same.
"What…?" I stumbled to a stop. The path I had just taken—the one that should've led to the border—was gone. Branches reached across the trail like delicate hands weaving a silent wall. Roots surged from the soil, forming snarled nets. The forest was alive. It was closing in.
I turned around—only to find the same. Fog was sealing the world shut, creeping in silently but lethally. Leaves rustled with whispers I couldn't understand.
"Did you think you could run from me?"
The voice came from behind—rough, deep, and unmistakably familiar.
Kael.
I spun around, breath catching like cracked glass. He stood at the edge of the fog, tall and unyielding. His hair was tousled, his breathing quick, but his eyes…
They weren't angry. Not confused.
They were afraid.
"Don't come closer," I said, voice trembling despite my attempt to sound firm.
"I'm not here to hurt you, Elowen." He stepped forward—and the fog receded from him, as if even the mist feared him.
"I don't need your protection."
"Then why are you shaking?"
I hated that he noticed. I hated that, no matter how much I wanted to despise him, my body remembered him. It recognized the warmth hidden in the cold of his voice, the power in the way he said my name.
I stepped back—and slipped. Roots caught my ankle. I crashed hard onto the wet ground. The fog embraced me like a frozen flood. It was like being drenched in ice.
"Agh!" I screamed as the fog touched my skin. It burned—not with fire, but with loss. Every drop seemed to steal something from me.
Kael leapt forward, gathering me into his arms.
And the moment he touched me—
Everything stopped.
Time… froze.
The fog pulled back.
And my sigil—the strange mark etched into my shoulder since the night of the blood moon—lit up with heat. His hand had landed on it by accident, and suddenly, his skin glowed too.
A dark red light pulsed from both of us. Not bright, but smoldering. Like coals. It twisted, coiling between our bodies. Our sigils… merged. Not just reacting. Not echoing.
They became one.
One symbol—older, more intricate. Far more ancient than any alpha-luna bond.
"Elowen…" Kael whispered, his tone shifting. Not angry. Not cold. But… terrified.
I met his eyes. For the first time since I met him, I saw fear there.
"What is this…?" he murmured. "This isn't a normal bond."
I wanted to answer, but I didn't even understand the question.
Kael stared at his hand on my skin. "This… is a repetition."
I froze. "A repetition of what?"
He didn't answer. But his entire body had stiffened, like he had just seen a ghost that should've stayed buried.
---
A few minutes earlier—before everything fell into chaos.
I remembered the moonlight slicing through the trees, spilling across my sweat-drenched skin. I remembered whispers brushing my ears—not human voices, but echoes from the earth. Voices of the forest. Of ancient spirits rising when balance was broken.
"Kael is not just a man," they hissed. "And you… you are the beginning that has already happened."
I hadn't understood then. But now, their words echoed in my skull.
"What do you know about this sigil?" I asked, barely louder than a breath.
Kael sighed, looking away. "Too much… and too little. But one thing I do know—our sigils shouldn't be able to fuse like that. That only happens when…"
He stopped himself.
I waited. He didn't continue.
"When what, Kael?" I asked, my voice on the verge of cracking.
He looked at me, his golden eyes glowing with deep pain. "When two souls have… lived a life together before."
I went still.
"Reincarnation?" I whispered in disbelief.
He nodded slowly. "More than that. There's a legend… of two cursed spirits who keep finding each other. Falling in love. Dying because of their choices. They never fulfill their fate. And each time they are reborn, the world trembles—fog rises, and blood demands atonement."
The world spun around me. "Are you saying we…"
"I don't know for sure," he cut in quickly. "But sigils don't lie, Elowen. And the forest didn't fight us. It watched us."
We fell silent.
The wind stirred softly.
Then—from the distance—a clinking sound. Like chains. Then a shriek—not human, not beast. But pain that pierced straight through bone.
I clutched Kael's arm. "What is that?"
He stared in the direction of the sound. "They've come sooner than expected. Maybe because—"
He looked at me. "Because we touched."
A sharp pain bloomed beneath my skin—right where my sigil was. I looked down.
A small wound had opened on its own.
And the blood that dripped out wasn't red.
It was black.
Kael's face turned pale. "No… It's too soon…"
"What do you mean?!"
"I have to get you out of here." His voice turned commanding again, the Alpha tone no one could defy. But I shook my head.
"I can't just trust you."
He reached out and cupped my face. His hand was warm—but trembling. "You have to, Elowen. Not for me. But for something far older than us. Because if you don't, we might be the reason a war begins again."
I froze. "What war?"
He opened his mouth to answer—but something emerged from the trees.
Not fog. A figure.
A large black shadow, with glowing white eyes and a body made of ash and bone. It stepped forward with a dreadful crackling sound, and the air turned colder.
Kael moved in front of me, shielding me. "Don't move."
"What is that?!" I could barely speak.
"A Time Keeper. They don't like patterns being broken. And we… broke the cycle."
The creature growled—and more appeared behind it.
Three.
Four.
I looked around wildly. Fog spun like a storm. The forest hissed. The ground trembled.
Kael grabbed my hand. "We need to run. Now."
But I was frozen.
Because one of the creatures… was looking at me.
And on its chest… was my sigil, burning in the exact same color.
---
Kael yanked me, and we ran.
This time, the forest didn't fight us. It opened paths, pushing the fog away.
But my breath came in short bursts. My thoughts were chaos.
"What are they? Why do they have my sigil?"
"I'll explain… if we survive."
"Promise me."
He glanced at me, and something in his eyes softened, smoldered. "I won't run again, Elowen."
And for some unknown reason… I believed him.
---
We reached the edge of a cliff. The forest ended. Below us, only darkness. Behind us—the fog howled.
Kael turned me toward a rock ledge and placed himself in front of me, arms spread wide.
The creatures emerged from the mist—eyes blank, mouths open in voiceless screams.
Kael looked back at me. "If I lose, run."
I wanted to scream—no—but words failed me.
Kael stood tall, and his body ignited. Red fire burst from his skin. His sigil glowed like molten metal. And then I understood why the fog feared him.
He wasn't just an alpha.
He was the Keeper of the First Flame.
The ancient fire that had once been betrayed.
And somehow… I was part of it.
---
The first creature lunged.
Kael met it midair.
An explosion of fire tore through the trees.
All I could do was watch.
And from within the flames, Kael turned his head—eyes burning with fury, sorrow, and… a yearning that couldn't be named.
He mouthed something to me.
"This isn't the first time we've met at the end of the world."
Before I could speak—
A thunderous crash.
The ground shuddered.
The fog swallowed everything.
And Kael… was gone.
---
I screamed.
But there was no answer.
Only the whispers of wind.
And the dim red glow where he had stood.